Originally published by Emma Greenwood of Code Sports
04.08.2026
Rowing Australia has rebuilt its reputation in 18 months since a scathing post-Paris review. At Gina Rinehart’s urging, this is how the proud Olympic sport got back on the road to LA2028.
Rowing Australia boss Sarah Cook never wanted a “quick fix” to her sport’s Paris Olympic nadir.
When RA laid bare the flaws of its high performance program in a scathing review that exposed a “culture of fear and repercussion”, few would have counted on a five-medal haul at the world championships less than 18 months later.
Sure they might not have won a gold medal at the regatta in Amsterdam that wrapped up earlier this week, but it’s obvious to all that the bloodletting from Paris has provided an immediate upswing in the fortunes of one of Australia’s proudest Olympic sports.
And Los Angeles 2028 Olympic gold – a pipedream just 18 months ago – is now a distinct reality.
Despite the painful honesty of the post-Paris report, chief executive Cook knew that simple, sustainable changes could bear fruit.
“I was so clear in my mind about what success looks like and how to get there,” Cook said.
“It’s about building foundations that are sustainable for the future, that are consistent, that people can really get behind.
“It’s keeping things simple in many ways. I think if you start getting too tricky, or looking for quick fixes, it’s never going to work.
“It’s just about getting the basics right, the foundations right.”
THE LOW POINT
Changes were made quickly after the paltry Paris campaign, with a restructure of the coaching leadership.
It was a decision made by Cook and senior RA officials including performance director Paul Thompson but one that was also encouraged by benefactor Gina Rinehart when she met with Cook immediately after the Olympics, a regatta she attended.
“Immediately after the Paris results, I met with the CEO of Rowing (Australia), advising I know how hard the rowers train, we need to change the coaches,” Rinehart said in a statement to Code Sports.
“This happened, and I was very pleased to hear directly from the rowers that they are very happy with their new coaches. The world championship results already show much better results.”
New head coaches were appointed in the men’s and women’s programs in the months after the Games, with James Harris poached from the successful Great Britain program to lead the women’s squad, while Chris O’Brien returned to rowing as men’s head coach after a stint in executive management with Gymnastics Australia.
Coupled with the poor Games results, the revelations contained in the end-of-cycle high performance review could have left the sport seen as a toxic prospect for outside backers.
That wasn’t the case for long-term benefactors Hancock Prospecting though, whose executive chairman Rinehart said the character and conduct of the athletes led to the company’s continued support.
“It is in recognition of these values as to why we have supported the sport for more than a decade, standing by them through thick and thin, enabling them to train long hours and remain focused on their rowing,” Rinehart said.
“It was a pleasure to visit our rowers at their European Training Centre recently during their final preparations for the world championships, at which Australia won five medals.”
Like swimming – whose athletes Hancock Prospecting also remained supportive of after its “toxic” cultural issues at the London Olympics more than a decade ago – rowing’s athletes benefit from direct support from Rinehart and her company while living at the centralised training centres in Canberra and Penrith.
“Rowing is a hard sport and there is no getting away from doing the work really,” Cook said.
“What the centralised facility gives us the opportunity to do is to have everyone in there.
“Thanks to Hancock Prospecting and Mrs Rinehart, we’re able to pay the athletes to be there so they don’t have to feel that pressure to work or earn a living. That support enables us to pay the athletes, so they can focus on their sport.”
GREEN SHOOTS
Those centres remained closed in the months after the Paris Games though as the sport concluded its review, meaning Australia’s world championship campaign last year was conducted off a low training base.
While the para crews again performed well, with Australia winning bronze in both the PR3 mixed double scull and men’s single sculls, the Rowsellas’ able bodied athletes failed to get on the podium.
There were signs of growth though, with the women’s four winning the B final and the women’s eight and men’s four also making championship deciders.
One of the most important aspects of the post-Paris review – overlooked somewhat given the shocking athlete feedback – was the decision to develop and implement what was called the “Rowing Australia Way”, an umbrella term for the underpinning technical model, training and performance strategies and systems for the organisation.
While individual coaches have brought enormous success – including multiple Olympic golds over several Games cycles – Australia lacked a centralised, national system to underpin its program.
While the current model still allows for the personality of each crew’s coach to be overlaid, the underpinning system means all athletes coming through the RA pathway will be familiar with certain technical, mental and fitness principles.
“What we really were committed to doing was making sure we implement everything (from the review),” Thompson said.
“And that’s what we’ve gone and done.
“Last year we had some green shoots and good races but we just didn’t quite have the base to be able to finish off at the worlds.
“Whereas now, we’ve had that 12 months behind us and we’ve got a good foundation, good principles, good climate in place (and) we’re in a place to be able to really optimise and maximise that.”
LA CALLING
Australia’s five medals in Amsterdam last week included two in the para program, that component retaining a strong status quo for the sport.
It’s the improvement of the Olympic program that has many buzzing though. RA’s “priority crews”, the women’s four and men’s pair, that include some of the strongest individual athletes in Tokyo gold medallist Alex Hill and women’s leader Georgie Rowe, brought home silver.
After a stellar season that included gold and silver medals and the overall World Cup title, the women’s eight was a victim of poor weather, failing to gain a place in the A final after a time trialling qualification cruelled their efforts in what one source described as a “brutally unfair” process.
They bounced back to win the B final though, while the women’s quad, a crew only assembled earlier this year and containing Tokyo gold medallist Annabelle McIntyre, on the road back from back surgery, finished fourth.
It’s the effort of the men’s eight that perhaps has everyone most excited in the lead-up to Los Angeles though.
While they won bronze behind the Netherlands and Great Britain, the Aussies were in the hunt for gold until the dying stages and all three boats went under the previous world-best time.
“Certainly it’s interesting when you’re on the ground here because everyone is watching and I had a lot of people come up to me from other federations and make comment, going, ‘Wow, what’s happening there? You guys are marching forward’,” Cook said.
Australia also won its first U23 world title in seven years in the women’s pair – one of five medals at that championships, while two out of three boats at the junior world championships won medals.
All these results combined have built excitement, rather than complacency.
“That men’s eight got off the water and said to me: ‘This is the start’,” Cook said.
“They were of course delighted with the race and getting a medal but it wasn’t like yeah, we’ve made the podium and that was it.”
With the women’s four also having dipped under the previous world’s best time on their way to silver, the rowing world seems Australia’s oyster ahead of LA.
THE WAY FORWARD
Changes can make a difference. Cook has cited Great Britain as a prime example.
The Brits won just two medals at the Tokyo Olympics, a silver in the men’s quad and bronze in the men’s eight, before eight of their 10 boats returned medals in Paris – including three gold – just three years later.
The technical foundations laid under the Rowing Australia Way have been important but it’s the cultural changes that are most likely to drive long-term results.
“We had a lot of change, obviously after Paris,” Cook said.
“But even the kinds of people that we looked to bring in – of course, we wanted people that had a history of success, but almost as important was people who were prepared to buy into what we were setting up and who believed in the culture.
“There were really key things I was looking for in each interview with the coaches, the way they spoke about the athletes; being athlete-centred in a really genuine way.
“It really was values-based recruitment because I thought if we don’t have people that really buy into what we’re establishing here, it’s never going to work.”
Thompson too said good principles and a “good climate” had been just as important as the technical changes made.
“Rowing’s hard enough, there’s no need to make it harder,” Thompson said.
“The dedication and the work that all the team put into it, the more that we can facilitate an environment where they’re just focusing in on their own (training) … we’re just keeping it as simple as we can.
“We all aspire to win gold medals and we’ve shown some solid improvement this year.
“It’ll be nose to the grindstone (again from later this month). We’ve just got to keep that environment where they can thrive.”
